Saturday, May 2, 2009
RECENT DEATH
My brother Doug and I have just returned to the DC area from Nashville in the heart of Tennessee. There we stayed with my friend Ilene who lives with her daughter Missy. Ilene graduated from UCLA and is a social therapist. Missy is a loan officer at a credit union. She is so good at what she does that she receives a number of complimentary letters from her customers.
Nashville is a very attractive area. It is very green, and is remarkable for well tended brick houses on huge lawns. It is a southern city, so southern hospitality is plentiful.
There are many interesting things to do in Nashville. Of course it is the capital of country and western music. After LA, more music in produced in Nashville than any other city. The area is also loaded with former cotton and tobacco plantations. There are many tours available for those interested in ante bellum mansions.
Also you can drive south of Nashville 73 miles and tour the Jack Daniels Distillery. It is situated in a ‘hollar’ down by a small stream. It is a very interesting tour, but you will have to go to the next county to drink Jack Daniels. The county with the distillery is DRY.
CIVIL WAR
Also close by are many important Civil War battlefields. Most people don’t know that, besides Virginia, more important battles were fought in Tennessee than in any other state. The reason is that the Union’s stratagem from the start was to split the Confederacy down the middle. They could do this by either capturing the Mississippi River, or the rail lines that ran from Nashville, to Atlanta, to Savannah. So Union and Rebel armies clashed regularly in this region.
Doug was once a licensed battlefield guide at Gettysburg, and his interest in the Civil War runs deep.
One day we visited the battlefield at Franklin. The battle there was arguably the bloodiest of the Civil War due to the large percentage of casualties suffered by the two armies. We took the tour of the Carter House grounds, which was at the epicenter of the battle. One side of the house was so shot up that every brick on that side had to be replaced. Otherwise it would have eventually fallen down. This house was used as a hospital during the battle. Surgeons worked non-stop amputating limbs and throwing them out the window onto the lawn. This pile eventually reached 9 feet tall. On the floor, around the spot where the surgeons worked, were copious blood stains.
While there we visited with Doug’s friend Vann. He is a civil war historian and collector. He told us that his parents wanted to name him Van, but not after a car. So they added the second ‘n’.
DEATH ON SULPHUR SPRINGS DRIVE
A few days later we visited the Civil War battlefield in Murfreesboro, about 30 miles south of Nashville. Until recently it was known for the battle that was fought there. But violent death came again to Murfreesboro on April 10th when a tornado hit the town. At F4, it was a powerful one, reaching wind speeds of 170 MPH. It ran on the ground for 23 miles.
Doug and I drove through a number of neighborhoods that were ravaged by the twister. These were, for the most part, upper middle class neighborhoods of brick houses on large lots. Everywhere you could see destroyed houses. Some had the roofs ripped off; some had half the house gone. Some were nothing more than piles of broken lumber and personal belongings. One house had been literally yanked off its foundation, and stood cockeyed nearby.
One of the most striking things about the damage was its randomness. Some houses missed destruction by the narrowest of margins. Across the street were houses that had merely lost roof shingles. Blue tarps were nailed down to keep out the rain.
BIRTH OF A TORNADO
A typical thunderstorm develops as warm air rises into colder air masses above. Some thunderstorms turn into super cell storms, which can last for hours and track over 100 miles. About ten percent of these storms spin off tornadoes, which are typically about 500 feet in diameter.
The newspaper said that the average warning time for a twister is 13 minutes. But in reality it often comes as a complete surprise. For example, Joe Spencer, a student at Middle Tenn State had only moments to react before surviving a direct hit to his house. He said it sounded like several freight trains at once. How did he survive? He climbed into the bathtub and held onto his dog. Nearby, in an industrial area, lots were heaped with piles of 18 wheelers.
Twister warnings are only accurate 25% of the time, so often people choose not to take shelter even if they’re told to. This was costly in a town that survived with 112 destroyed homes.
Doug and I drove from neighborhood to neighborhood…the scene always the same.
Doug happened to see a memorial of balloons and flowers in what appeared to be a vacant lot. Upon investigation he discovered that the memorial was for the only two people—a young mother and her 9 week baby—who were killed by the tornado. Behind the memorial was all that remained of their home---a cinder block foundation around a clay floor. It had been a very small wooden home…an inexpensive starter home…a home for a young family with hopes for the future. It was apparent that the twister had passed directly over this home.
The husband also would have died except for strange fortune. He was sucked out of the house by the winds, and would have been flung to who knows where. But he got tangled up in the power lines that ran by his house and was saved. When the twister passed he regained consciousness, still hanging from the lines.
At the back of the lot was a small tool shed. Although damaged, it was still standing. It was hard to comprehend that if this family had huddled together in this tool shed, rather than the house, that they would still be alive today.
The scene around this house was of utter destruction. Trees were knocked over and stripped of their limbs. Power lines were down. Lawns were strewn with debris. Houses all around had lost roofs or half of their rooms. One house had the garage ripped off. The family’s red mini van was still sitting there, where the garage had once been. Its windows were smashed. Condemned homes had already been marked with paint on the door.
Yet not a hundred yards away were houses that had received no damage. A grim reminder of the fact that nature’s destruction always falls upon humans as a caprice.
The next day Doug and I did the 12 hour drive back to the DC area. It is a beautiful drive, through the heart of the southern Appalachian Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley. During the drive we talked about the Civil War and reminisced about the fun trips we had taken in the past. But the memories of the horrible destruction we had seen in Murfreesboro remained burned in our minds.
Nashville is a very attractive area. It is very green, and is remarkable for well tended brick houses on huge lawns. It is a southern city, so southern hospitality is plentiful.
There are many interesting things to do in Nashville. Of course it is the capital of country and western music. After LA, more music in produced in Nashville than any other city. The area is also loaded with former cotton and tobacco plantations. There are many tours available for those interested in ante bellum mansions.
Also you can drive south of Nashville 73 miles and tour the Jack Daniels Distillery. It is situated in a ‘hollar’ down by a small stream. It is a very interesting tour, but you will have to go to the next county to drink Jack Daniels. The county with the distillery is DRY.
CIVIL WAR
Also close by are many important Civil War battlefields. Most people don’t know that, besides Virginia, more important battles were fought in Tennessee than in any other state. The reason is that the Union’s stratagem from the start was to split the Confederacy down the middle. They could do this by either capturing the Mississippi River, or the rail lines that ran from Nashville, to Atlanta, to Savannah. So Union and Rebel armies clashed regularly in this region.
Doug was once a licensed battlefield guide at Gettysburg, and his interest in the Civil War runs deep.
One day we visited the battlefield at Franklin. The battle there was arguably the bloodiest of the Civil War due to the large percentage of casualties suffered by the two armies. We took the tour of the Carter House grounds, which was at the epicenter of the battle. One side of the house was so shot up that every brick on that side had to be replaced. Otherwise it would have eventually fallen down. This house was used as a hospital during the battle. Surgeons worked non-stop amputating limbs and throwing them out the window onto the lawn. This pile eventually reached 9 feet tall. On the floor, around the spot where the surgeons worked, were copious blood stains.
While there we visited with Doug’s friend Vann. He is a civil war historian and collector. He told us that his parents wanted to name him Van, but not after a car. So they added the second ‘n’.
DEATH ON SULPHUR SPRINGS DRIVE
A few days later we visited the Civil War battlefield in Murfreesboro, about 30 miles south of Nashville. Until recently it was known for the battle that was fought there. But violent death came again to Murfreesboro on April 10th when a tornado hit the town. At F4, it was a powerful one, reaching wind speeds of 170 MPH. It ran on the ground for 23 miles.
Doug and I drove through a number of neighborhoods that were ravaged by the twister. These were, for the most part, upper middle class neighborhoods of brick houses on large lots. Everywhere you could see destroyed houses. Some had the roofs ripped off; some had half the house gone. Some were nothing more than piles of broken lumber and personal belongings. One house had been literally yanked off its foundation, and stood cockeyed nearby.
One of the most striking things about the damage was its randomness. Some houses missed destruction by the narrowest of margins. Across the street were houses that had merely lost roof shingles. Blue tarps were nailed down to keep out the rain.
BIRTH OF A TORNADO
A typical thunderstorm develops as warm air rises into colder air masses above. Some thunderstorms turn into super cell storms, which can last for hours and track over 100 miles. About ten percent of these storms spin off tornadoes, which are typically about 500 feet in diameter.
The newspaper said that the average warning time for a twister is 13 minutes. But in reality it often comes as a complete surprise. For example, Joe Spencer, a student at Middle Tenn State had only moments to react before surviving a direct hit to his house. He said it sounded like several freight trains at once. How did he survive? He climbed into the bathtub and held onto his dog. Nearby, in an industrial area, lots were heaped with piles of 18 wheelers.
Twister warnings are only accurate 25% of the time, so often people choose not to take shelter even if they’re told to. This was costly in a town that survived with 112 destroyed homes.
Doug and I drove from neighborhood to neighborhood…the scene always the same.
Doug happened to see a memorial of balloons and flowers in what appeared to be a vacant lot. Upon investigation he discovered that the memorial was for the only two people—a young mother and her 9 week baby—who were killed by the tornado. Behind the memorial was all that remained of their home---a cinder block foundation around a clay floor. It had been a very small wooden home…an inexpensive starter home…a home for a young family with hopes for the future. It was apparent that the twister had passed directly over this home.
The husband also would have died except for strange fortune. He was sucked out of the house by the winds, and would have been flung to who knows where. But he got tangled up in the power lines that ran by his house and was saved. When the twister passed he regained consciousness, still hanging from the lines.
At the back of the lot was a small tool shed. Although damaged, it was still standing. It was hard to comprehend that if this family had huddled together in this tool shed, rather than the house, that they would still be alive today.
The scene around this house was of utter destruction. Trees were knocked over and stripped of their limbs. Power lines were down. Lawns were strewn with debris. Houses all around had lost roofs or half of their rooms. One house had the garage ripped off. The family’s red mini van was still sitting there, where the garage had once been. Its windows were smashed. Condemned homes had already been marked with paint on the door.
Yet not a hundred yards away were houses that had received no damage. A grim reminder of the fact that nature’s destruction always falls upon humans as a caprice.
The next day Doug and I did the 12 hour drive back to the DC area. It is a beautiful drive, through the heart of the southern Appalachian Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley. During the drive we talked about the Civil War and reminisced about the fun trips we had taken in the past. But the memories of the horrible destruction we had seen in Murfreesboro remained burned in our minds.
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